Chapter 3
Chapter 3:
“Miss Lloyd!” the dealership manager cried out when he saw Elyse collapse to the floor.
Before anyone else could react, Colton was already moving. He rushed straight to her, lifted her into his arms, and carried her out without a moment’s hesitation.
A trace of quiet ridicule crossed Kristine’s lips.
After Colton drove away, she was left with no option but to find a cab on her own. Unfortunately, getting a taxi near the dealership proved nearly impossible. Wearing her high heels, Kristine walked for an entire hour before she managed to flag one down.
Seated inside the car, she looked down at her sore, blistered feet and let out a quiet sigh of relief. At least the pain stayed in her feet. Her heart remained untouched.
Several days passed after the incident at the dealership without Kristine crossing paths with Colton. There was no reason for her to reach out or ask about him, yet Elyse took it upon herself to deliver every detail anyway.
“At 9:05 this morning, Colton sat with me and spoon-fed my soup. He was so careful p>
“By 6:23 this evening, Colton peeled an orange just for me. It looks perfect. Do you want a bite? What a shame you will never get the chance.” Beneath the message, Elyse had attached a photo of the neatly peeled orange.
“At 10:35 tonight, Colton is lying beside me and already asleep.” Below that sat a photo of Colton resting on the bed next to Elyse, his arm supporting his weight as he leaned close.
𝖶𝖾𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘆 𝗋𝖾l𝘦a𝗌еѕ о𝗇
Kristine skimmed through the messages and dropped her phone back into her bag.
Maybe she had already gone numb, because Elyse’s constant updates now felt no different from watching a ridiculous drama. She pushed the car door open, stepped out, and headed straight into K&C Entertainment.
K&C Entertainment had once been built by her and Colton side by side. At the beginning, her reason for doing so had been simple: she wanted something that would bind her closer to him. She had truly believed that creating a company together would make it harder for Colton to walk away from their relationship. What she never expected was that it would eventually become the chain that trapped her instead.
“You’re planning to leave for Peudon?” Vance Bailey, the VP, looked at Kristine with open disbelief. “Does Colton know anything about this p>
“I haven’t told him yet,” Kristine answered without hesitation. “I need you to keep this confidential p>
“Naturally.” Vance nodded, though disbelief still lingered on his face. “Weren’t you completely devoted to Colton? Are you really able to walk away from him like this p>
For seven long years, Kristine had stayed by Colton’s side. She had handed over the most precious years of her life without holding anything back.
“I’m done with him,” she said calmly. “Once I leave, I’ll hand over the remaining work on the company’s equity division to you. I really hate to bring you trouble like this p>
“There’s no need to sound so distant,” Vance replied, lowering his head as a faint look of satisfaction passed through his eyes. “We graduated from the same school, after all. I was only able to join the company because you strongly recommended me p>
A quiet sense of appreciation rose in Kristine. In truth, while the company was registered under her name, the burden of keeping it alive had fallen squarely on his shoulders. Without his efforts holding everything together, the business would have fallen apart long ago.
After one final round through the office, Kristine made the decision to leave. At the entrance, Vance walked her out himself and stood watching until her car disappeared from view before turning back inside with reluctance.
During the drive, Kristine unlocked her phone and marked off the second-to-last item on her list: the division of the company’s equity. Her attention shifted to the final task beneath it — moving out of Colton’s villa in Crestwood. Once that step was completed, nothing would remain to tie her to him.
The car pulled up to the villa in silence.
When Kristine stepped inside, the household staff behaved as though she did not exist. No one came forward to acknowledge her. Everyone in the house knew that Colton did not love her. Since the day she moved in, he had rarely returned. Rather than heading to the master bedroom, she went straight to the guest room, where she and Colton had been sleeping in separate rooms from the start.
Inside the closet hung rows of clothes from well-known luxury brands. Every single piece had been given to her by Colton. To Kristine, none of it carried any meaning.
She crouched down slowly and dragged her suitcase out from beneath the bed. Just as she began placing items inside, a sharp car horn sounded from downstairs.
“Mr. Yates p>
Polite voices floated up from the front entrance. Colton had come back.
At once, Kristine shoved the suitcase back beneath the bed. She had no intention of letting him find out she was preparing to leave.
She had barely straightened up when she heard his footsteps on the stairs. She raised her head and found him standing at the doorway, his tall frame filling the space. Weariness lingered in his eyes, yet the soft glow of the hallway lights sharpened his features and made him undeniably striking.
For a moment, Kristine forgot to breathe.
“What are you doing?” Colton asked, fixing her with a penetrating look that felt impossible to hide from.
Kristine kept her body angled between him and the suitcase. “I was trying to find something p>
Without pressing further, he stepped inside the room. “The past few days have been a mess,” he said. “I spoke with Bobby earlier. I’m free on the nineteenth, so we’ll get married that day p>
Again, he spoke as though delivering a verdict rather than opening a discussion.
With a slight tilt of her head, Kristine replied, “The nineteenth happens to be my birthday p>
A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes before it disappeared. “I already made plans for that day,” she continued.
“You usually don’t celebrate your birthday, do you?” he said.
He had simply never marked the occasion with her. That realization stayed unspoken, yet it kept circling quietly in her thoughts.
“Then we can choose a different date.” After saying that, Colton adjusted his tie and walked toward the bathroom.
Roughly half an hour later, he stepped back out, the warmth of the shower still clinging to him. A towel was wrapped loosely around his waist, and beads of water traced a slow path from his chest down over his defined abdomen. Those contours had once stirred something fierce in Kristine. Now they left her unmoved.
From across the room, Colton watched her sit with her head lowered, scrolling through her phone. A faint crease appeared between his brows. There had been a time when showing off his physique would make Kristine hurry over, unable to resist touching him.
“We should sleep.” With that, Colton reached over and turned off the lights.
Surrounded by darkness, Kristine rose to her feet. “I should get going p>
A frown settled on Colton’s face as he watched the door swing open and then shut. Darkness filled the room once more. For an instant, unease gripped him — but he forced it down and convinced himself that everything would remain under control.
Over the following days, Kristine did not catch even a glimpse of Colton. According to Vance, he had likely left town for a business trip. Not even Vance had managed to get in touch with him during that time.
Had this happened before, the news would have crushed Kristine. This time, it felt like a small mercy. With Colton away, she finally had the chance to visit the villa and gather her things in peace.
Very little there actually belonged to her. What remained were mostly items she had bought for Colton over the years — matching watches, clothes, a stuffed bear, and other things he had always considered immature. He had shoved all of it into the farthest corner of the wardrobe.
One by one, Kristine pulled those items out and placed them carefully into her suitcase. When it could hold no more, she walked out of the villa for the last time. A member of the household staff noticed her leave but assumed she was heading to work and did not stop to ask questions.
Before she realized it, the nineteenth had arrived.
By then, Kristine had already settled everything that needed her attention. All she had left to do was wait for the twentieth and finally leave Gridron behind.
That night, she went by herself to a cake shop in the city. She carried the small cake to a nearby park, chose a quiet corner, and ate it slowly on her own. The sweetness lingered on her tongue. This time, there was no need to worry about Colton leaving halfway through.
Leaning back, she lifted her gaze toward the darkened sky, and a faint smile appeared on her lips.
At that moment, a sharp explosion sounded overhead. Fireworks bloomed across the sky, colors bursting open in dazzling patterns before fading into the dark. Kristine sat there so long that her neck began to ache before the final burst faded into silence.
A sudden vibration broke the stillness. She reached into her bag, pulled out her phone, and checked the screen.
A message from Colton. “Did you like the fireworks? Happy birthday p>
Tears rushed up without warning, blurring her vision. She had never received a birthday wish from Colton before. She never imagined the first one would arrive on what was meant to be her very last day in this city.
She opened the message and had barely finished typing the word “thanks” when a new notification appeared on her screen. It was a photo from Elyse.
Kristine tapped it open. A slice of cake filled the image.
“Colton baked this cake for me with his own hands. I heard today is your birthday, so I deliberately asked him to make one just for me. I get to eat birthday cake, and you do not. What a pity for the birthday girl p>
As she read, the tears that had filled her eyes slowly disappeared.
She switched to Colton’s chat and typed out a short reply. “I want you to make a cake for me p>